If Harry could find a "beat" WBX Vanagon donor, this would keep costs
down and provide a lot of other spare parts. Sort of a "kill two
birds" approach in a way. And though a long shot, finding one with
stainless long pipes would be great.

If the air cooled Westy body etc., is in great shape, it *might* be
worth the time. Emphasis on "might". OTOH, zero regrets doing the swap
I did. Learned a LOT, have had many enjoyable miles. It would still be
running were it not for my choice to redesign the engine carrier,
upgrade mounts, and exhaust. .... projects which had stalled!

The cost of a Zetec swap itself should be roughly the same for any 2WD
Vanagon. The lack of a coolant based cooling system on an air cooled
Vanagon is obviously and likely the main reason the swap isn't listed
for those models. If you really wanted to do that swap, I don't see
why it wouldn't work.

In hindsight, I see the basic aspects of the cooling system changeover
as not too difficult. Bonus: you get a chance to rebuild the heat
exchange box, and, you should end up with a near new cooling system.

Con's: it's a bunch of added work to an already well thought out swap
(Zetec) and there are details to work out. i.e. installing the oil
pressure warning circuit board, (or cluster with that part), coolant
low warning module, adapting hole in body for heater core hoses,
installing upper support for radiator, etc.

Neil.

On Sat, Oct 27, 2012 at 3:52 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Well that is an option. The water cooling and heating system can be added. You can also upgrade to the later transmission. Or for all that money just get a later Westy that runs.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Harry Hoffman [mailto:hhoffman@ip-solutions.net]
> Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 4:15 PM
> To: Dennis Haynes
> Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Thoughts on buying a 82 air-cooled westy?
>
> Thanks to everyone who responded. My thought was to do a bostig conversion but they start from 83 and up.
> I appreciate all of the pointers!

--
Neil n

65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly  http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp

'88 Slate Blue Westy to be named.

'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines